Aria's Bodyguard
by Shenezia1
Summary: Aria's been trying to change the way she runs things on Omega since Nyreen's passing but old habits can be hard to kill. With multiple gangs looking to steal Aria's position she needs to revamp her personal guard. Raven is a new human recruit, will she and the others keep Aria alive or will they not be enough to stop what's coming? Image belongs to Brinx-II on DeviantArt.
1. Chapter 1 Looking Death In The Face

**Raven's P.O.V.**

We'd received intel that the Razors, a small merc gang run by a vorcha named Grog was going to attempt to dethrone Aria to get more money and better resources for their business. The Razors wore black, green, and white colored armor with sharp blades on their shoulders, arms, and legs. If these guys ever get in close enough to an opponent they can rip them to shreds in hand to hand combat. If a person was thrown over their shoulders the blades would rip a person from their chest down to their hips. The other blades on their arms and legs were all on the outside parts of their body. With an arm all you needed to do was slash a person by back handing them. The leg blades are hardly ever used so most people thought they were decoration, but an experienced fighter knows that if someone ever tripped and fell down in front of a Razor they could be cruel enough to jump on top of you and cut you up instead of being somewhat merciful and just shoot you point blank. So with the intel we had received we swiftly started to plan and prepare for battle.

Aria saw no need to dispatch them before their date of assassination, she wanted to see the look of surprise and fear on their faces when they realized that Aria knew they were coming and that she wouldn't be the one dying. Personally I think she was just bored and the idea of a confrontation excited her.

So we prepared to have a fight in Afterlife, Aria saw to it that breakable objects were removed two days before the "assassination in her honor" would take place.

The fight was loud, and abrupt when it happened, at least for the bystanders, but Bray suggested halfway through our gun fight that we relocate where there were less civilians. He'd never admit it but he didn't want any unnecessary causalities. He said we should relocate so Afterlife wouldn't have bullet holes everywhere. So we left Afterlife through the back entrance.

Bray told me to release a biotic blast at the enemy while he pulled our guys out. I nodded in response and tried my best to block out the sounds around me as I gathered up two balls of black matter and threw them out in a wave of blue and black colors. The mercs were picked off of their feet and fell back onto tables and couches. One guy was unlucky enough to hit one of the walls that held some rather sharp artwork, and never did come down to rejoin the fight.

With our men out and the Razors scattered I pulled out and went after my team. We led the mercs to the lower wards of Omega and continued our fight there. We ended up in one of the old shut down mine shafts, I could tell because only the backup lights were on and there was no machinery activity going on at all down here.

The dust finally settled on the rocky walls now that the pumps didn't shake the dirt and the atmosphere didn't feel heavy with all the activity that used to go on here with the machinery and the people all moving about. One of the guys on Bray's squad had actually laughed once we had bunkered down behind some rocks.

His name was Hypax, a young turian who came to Omega looking for adventure instead of taking military orders from the hierarchy. He's twenty-five, skin is brown, and has the typical full face Kepler Verge tattoo that Grizz has; he's another turian on our team. Hypax also has blue eyes. His training and upbringing had been all about being part of a squad and being in fire fights so he quickly got bored with doing nothing on the station and he sought out Bray to join his crew. He wanted to get back in the environment without having to deal with diplomatic military codes that the Blue Suns normally use since most of the Blue Suns are composed of turians, but they do have humans, batarians, salarians, and others that join up too. The Blue Suns are known for being popular with ex-military turians though so that's why there are some formalities.

Bray isn't too big on formalities, he just wants the job done right so Hypax wanted in on the action without the stiff crap. Bray let him on a year ago, he had been the newbie before me and he says he's glad I joined up cuz now he won't be the newbie anymore. I think he was glad that I joined though cuz we were both the youngest on the team and could relate to one another. Either that or have a good time joking around, I'm not sure which.

I'm the youngest of the group, the only female, and to top it off the only human in the squad. I'm nineteen and everybody who works in AfterLife teases me about it. They say I must have come looking for a job here on the station just so I could drink because no bar in Council run space would serve me alcohol till I was twenty-one, but I'm here for different reasons.

Hypax had laughed at our surroundings though and I'm curious to know why so I raised an eyebrow at him, "What's so funny?"

He took a shot at one of Grog's men and nailed the guy in the chest; he went down like a stone. Looks like his kinetic barriers don't have much juice.

"I used to work here. Noisy as hell, thought it would never get quiet. I like the way this place turned out though, you can actually hear yourself think."

I laughed and returned fire. A Razor thought he was tough shit and ran right at me, what an idiot. I squeezed off a slug from my pistol and he went down, his yell cut off just before he hit the dirt and I shook my head at his actions. Must have been a new guy trying to prove himself, and look where it just landed him.

Hypax shot another merc and gripped my shoulder to pull me back down into cover, which was reckless on my part. I should have been paying attention. "Hey get down!"

He gestured at the Razor I just finished killing, "Looks like he wasn't too smart."

I nodded my agreement and took the head off of a vorcha, but they regenerate fast so I fired a few more rounds and ripped his body in half with my biotics. Hypax gave me this look like _Holy shit could he get anymore dead?_ I shrugged in reaction to his look, I don't need a vorcha to get back up later on during the fight so he can shoot me for firing at him.

"I'm starting to think this whole group isn't too smart."

"Well of course they're not. Everybody knows you're not supposed to fuck with Aria."

Bray ducked as a Razor shot at him and he returned fire, "Not much left of this group. Let's hurry this up. Aria wants Grog saved for last so watch your aim."

Hypax and I did as we were told and helped finish off the last of the Razors. Aria then gave Grog a speech of how she knew about his attack and let him in on a secret. Today's assault wouldn't end in her death, it would end in his. I was looking for strays with Hypax and the men when I noticed something.

Aria was in the middle of killing Grog when I got the feeling. She was standing on an old dock port and she shot him in the head, broke the vorcha's neck with her biotics, and for good measure stabbed him in his side; _then_ she let him fall down into the dark, rocky abyss below. Damn, talk about murder with a vengeance.

I saw a glint in my peripheral vision, it was armor and it was moving. I heard the gentle click of a gun cocking and I immediately raised my pistol, "Live one!"

I jumped forward toward the docking port and biotically pushed Aria back with my other hand. She yelled, "What the hell do you think you're doing!" I twisted my body so my back faced the drop off and I took a slug right into the shoulder. I fired a round right back at him and nailed him straight through the head. _What the hell is she yelling at me for?! I'm trying to do my damn job._

In that moment everything seemed to slow down and I looked back at Aria's face. My boss usually had a cold, amused, sneer on her face, but in this moment I saw Aria's lips part in a small silent O and I saw something in her eyes.

I think she was surprised at my actions, and maybe a little scared that I took a shot for her, but why? That's what she hired me for. I knew I was probably going to die now, I was too close to the edge of the platform and the momentum from that vorcha's shot was enough to throw me over.

Then reality snapped back into place and Aria's face was gone. Now sheer rock zoomed past my eyes. I was determined to live though and I willed my biotics to slow down my descent, hopefully I could slow down enough to grab something, _anything_, to keep me from falling to my death.

My biotics flickered and eventually flared a bit brighter against the brown rock. Amidst the rapidly changing rock formation I saw a break in the cliff and I slammed my arm into a small, jagged hole.

I continued to go down for a second but I soon stopped as my arm broke inside the rock formation and the sudden jerk caused my shoulder to pop out of its socket.

I screamed in pain as my body hung limp off of the rocky overhang and I swung a few more times back and forth from my now dislocated shoulder.

I squeezed my eyes open a tiny bit to make sure that my arm was firmly embedded into the rock and the pain finally was too much; I passed out.

**Aria's P.O.V.**

I smirked as I broke Grog's neck with my biotics. It was like stepping on a salarian hutch of eggs. Their shells are hard enough to make that crunching sound but once past the shell everything is gooey. I took out my omni-blade and stabbed him in his side for good measure, vorcha usually aren't very smart but they have a nasty habit of regenerating so I wanted to be sure he'd die. With that done I let him fall into the oldest part of the station. I stood there relishing in my glory of crushing rebellion with my power and I noticed that Raven, a young female human I had just hired as one of my guards, seemed to go stiff.

Raven had been a bouncer at Afterlife before becoming one of my guards. She was a bit young in my opinion but she proved herself capable at Afterlife so I had her hired. Her job had been to make sure none of the customers got too fresh with the entertainers.

She was tall for a human woman, not the tallest I've seen but she was tall for her kind. She had a short spiky haircut and green eyes that said you don't scare me. She was also very fit, a few of the dancers would talk about her figure and say how they wouldn't mind her checking them out with that body of hers.

She did a good job of keeping an eye on customers and her presence was normally enough to make the men wary when she was around so incidents didn't happen often.

I was about to open my mouth and ask her if she was sure she had the stomach for this job when everything around me slowed down. Raven lunged, drawing her gun up and I narrowed my eyes. Was she going to shoot me? In front of all my men? In front of Bray?

I could see Bray was bringing his gun up to stop her and I coldly barked, "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" I raised my hand so I could fling her off to the side with my biotics. Just before I could though Raven jumped past me and pushed me back with her own biotics, and Bray lowered his gun in surprise.

At the same time she pushed me I saw chips of her armor break off and blood splattered from her left shoulder. Raven spun around having her back face the drop off. She lined up her shot and released one slug. She killed a vorcha I hadn't noticed. He would have assassinated me if she hadn't jumped forward in time. She was trying to save me, not kill me. That almost never happens. I snapped my mouth shut but then it opened again of its own accord.

The look she gave me as her body began to fall off the docking pad reminded me of Nyreen all those years ago when she took out those adjutants in front of Afterlife that were attacking civilians.

I could feel a scream forming in the back of my throat but it never quite came out of my mouth. The message in Raven's eyes said _I'm sorry but I'll do whatever it takes to keep you alive. _

Then she was gone, her body fell off the edge of the platform and the world was back in real time once more.

Bray shouted an order, "Go and make sure there aren't any more of those bastards. You! Go and grab a medic and stand by!"

I grabbed Bray's wrist hard, "We don't need a medic and we're going after her."

He held my gaze briefly and then we both ran to the nearest hover car. He opened the doors and jumped into the driver's seat and I closed the doors after me. Raven's armor should have already released medi-gel around the wound she had and sealed it off so nothing else could spread. If Raven somehow survived this fall I would bring her to Solous Clinic.

We went forward and down past the old dock that I tossed Grog's body into, known as Dead Man's Jump, I remembered too late that it had earned that reputation for a reason.

I quickly began scans for Raven's body on my omni-tool, "She's 300 meters below us."

Bray in turn sped up and my stomach turned over uneasily. Plenty of people have died doing their jobs for me and it had never bothered me before. But after Nyreen's death I had become more sensitive to the people on this station, enough to make see to it that everyone now received basic food rations. But beyond that nothing much has changed.

Raven's face flashed before my eyes and I remembered one night a few turians had come into Afterlife and they were watching several of the girls perform. They tipped well but made disgusting comments about what they wanted to do with the girls. The entertainers have heard it all before so it didn't faze them.

I had lost interest and was going to talk with Bray when I heard Noleena, one of my best dancers, gasp in pain. I spun my head around to see a turian had pulled her down off of her platform and was trying to get fresh with her, his pals whooped in enthusiasm.

It was Raven's shift though that night so he wouldn't get very far. She grabbed the offender's arm and brought it up behind his back and hissed, "That's enough!"

I saw the other girls stop dancing and anxiously all watched as Noleena quickly scrambled away and got back up on her platform.

"You can look but don't touch unless you're invited. Got it?" Raven's voice was low and lethal, the music was loud and booming but I heard every word.

The turian's buddies didn't seem to appreciate her words and I could see a brawl was ready to break out. I turned to signal for Bray and his men to break it up but to my surprise I didn't need to.

The girls all got down from their poles and platforms to surround the group of males and two of the girls got in between Raven and the turian who had attacked Noleena.

I smirked and got up. "It looks like you boys pissed off my girls. I suggest you all leave before someone gets hurt."

The turians realized that my presence graced the club that evening and they fled like the roaches they were. Noleena thanked Raven for watching out for her and she smiled, tipping her head in acknowledgement.

"No problem Noleena. You guys didn't need to back me up either but you did anyway."

The girls all smiled and replied that she owed them drinks after their shift for it and the night went on as usual. I found out later that Raven had walked Noleena home to make sure she was okay and the girls got jumped by the same turian.

Raven had gotten pretty banged up but she kept Noleena safe and kicked the turian's ass for his mistake of following them. When I caught wind of what happened I saw to it that he was dealt with permanently, no one messes with my dancers. The girls informed me that Raven had a lot of bruises so if she seemed to be a bit slow and a bit spacey not to ride her for it.

The girls were always a tight knit group, that's what happens when you're in that kind of business but they had never taken a real shine to the bouncers before.

So I had Bray check out her history and later out of amusement I offered her a deal to work with Bray and his men outside of Afterlife. After a few missions Bray suggested that Raven be one of my new private body guards.

We tested her skills and she passed, with flying colors. She had gone off world for several missions with Bray after that in my name to tend business and tended to my person a few times before we learned about this small insignificant gang that wanted to overthrow me.

I never realized it up to this point, but I was beginning to enjoy Raven's company. She was a young, smart, outgoing, charismatic, and powerful human. She had some of my fire, and it reminded me of my younger days.

Now all of that was gone within the blink of an eye. She's dead because a vorcha managed to not be detected by my people long enough for him to squeeze off a shot at me.

I was startled out of my mournful thoughts by my omni-tool's alarm. Raven's body wasn't too far from us now. I wanted to retrieve her and have a proper ceremony for her burial, there wasn't much of a chance that she would survive the fall.

"Thirty degrees northwest." My voice was colder than usual.

Bray looked at me with concern. He knew I was trying to hide my despair with my bravado, but he didn't say anything; one of the perks about Bray is he doesn't bring up subjects he knows not to touch, or he knows it doesn't need to be said out loud for it to still be recognized.

He just adjusted our heading and then he swore softly. "Son of a bitch."


	2. Chapter 2 Vagrancy

The vehicle lurched to a stop ten feet below a rock outcropping and I looked up to see her body hanging limp and uselessly from her left arm. She wasn't laying at the bottom of this chasm, interesting. I threw open the doors and Bray checked her body.

I furrowed my brow in puzzlement while Bray scratched his head and said, "She should have been at the bottom of this shaft. Why is her body here?"

Bray began to check her body and pulled back his hand so fast that it looked like he had been burned by her.

"What's wrong Bray?"

He gripped my arm tight, "Aria! She's still alive!"

My heart almost stopped at his words and I tried to get a grip on myself as I barked, "Then get her down!"

He let me go and started to examine her body more closely. "Her left arm's jammed in that hole, probably broken, and her shoulder's dislocated. Lucky son of a bitch."

I shook my head, if she was alive then it was because of her wits, not because of sheer dumb luck.

"That's not luck Bray. She slowed herself down with her biotics; she did a terrible job of it, but it was just enough for her to stop."

At that moment Nyreen's face flashed before my eyes with those _things_ surrounding her. Her eyes bore right into mine in that last final moment, telling me silently not to let her die in vain… I shook my head to chase the images away and cleared my throat before I spoke.

"Let's get her out of there."

Bray nodded, "Right. Good thing she's out cold, otherwise this would be much more painful."

I wrapped my arms around her hips and pushed her up to relieve the pressure on her left shoulder and Bray swiftly pulled her arm out of the jagged hole in the rock. Raven groaned and I gently laid her down into the back seat of the vehicle while Bray closed the doors.

As he flew us back up to the rest of my people, I glanced back over my shoulder and gently brushed my hand over the left side of her face.

When I withdrew my hand I left a smear on her face. I narrowed my eyes and inspected my now bloody fingers. "Hurry Bray. We need to get her checked out at Solous Clinic."

Raven's P.O.V.

I sat up fast and my shoulder screamed at the movement, which drew a hiss from me that turned into a groan as my head swam. I began to fall backward and a strong pair of arms supported my head and back, taking care to not bump my shoulder.

"Take it easy Raven." Said a low, sultry voice and my eyes flew open in recognition.

The scene before me was unfamiliar, I was in a very big, tastefully decorated, room. I tried to pull back to look at my boss but she was having none of it.

"Raven calm down, you're safe. We're in my quarters."

Her grip was gentle but firm as she held my head and back to keep me from falling back onto whatever it was that I had been resting on.

"I'm alive…" I was going to say something else but my head still felt woozy so I just stopped talking.

Aria put some space between us and she nodded with a serious look on her face, and a slight frown on her mouth.

"Yes, you're alive."

I blinked feeling sluggish, my shoulder didn't seem to hurt anymore and dimly I realized my arm was in a sling, and a cast was covering my arm from wrist to elbow.

"How did you find me?"

Aria gently laid me back against a pillow to support me and then stood up to pace back and forth in front of her fireplace, I noticed as she paced that I was laid out on a very large couch.

Aria had her arms crossed as she walked back and forth, the fireplace casting a contrast of light and dark across her face; it was as if the fire itself was projecting Aria's exact makeup as a person.

The light contrast to me looked like a symbolic form of ying yang, except for the part where Aria was definitely a yang trying to learn how to become a ying. Her voice was smooth and lethal as she spoke.

"When I hire my people I get their armor, weapons, and their body implanted with a tracer. Since you're incredibly new you don't have a body implant but luckily your armor and weapons have tracers, so I followed your signal with my omni-tool. Bray and I took a transport down into the old mine deposit shaft and found you dangling by your arm in a crevice."

Aria turned on her heel to face me, the fire cast a fiery halo along the silhouette of her body.

"You saved my life Raven, the least I could have done was recover your body and hold a proper ceremony for you."

I cleared my throat to cover my surprise at Aria's sentiment, not that she would ever admit to such emotions existing in her body.

"Well…thanks, for coming after me Aria."

My boss inclined her head to acknowledge my thanks and began to walk around the room, running her hand over some shelves, a table, and a case filled with what I assumed were pieces of art. She faced me again and sat down on the couch next to my feet.

She looked me directly in the eyes and said, "I'm not used to having a life debt to someone. Anyone who has ever taken a hit for me has either been killed on impact or died a few hours later."

I started to tap my fingers on the couch, not many people could unsettle me but Aria T'Loak is a unique exception and I'm still trying to figure out why that is.

She continued, "- So that makes what I'm about to ask you a very special circumstance. I would like to keep you as part of my guard, but I understand if this brush with death would make you think otherwise."

She glanced away for the next part, "If you don't wish to stay I will make sure you have a secured job waiting for you, wherever that may be; whether it's on station or not. So I'll give you some time to think about it, this is a very difficult position for you I'm sure. Take all the time you need."

"I appreciate your little speech Aria but it's gonna take more than a bullet and a tumble off a platform to make me leave this job."

Aria's lips quirked up and a mischievous look glittered in her eyes making her seem even more lethal than usual. "Good, because it's hard to find people who are willing to take a bullet for me rather than put the bullet in me."

I snorted at her comment and took in my surroundings. The room was made up of blacks, greys, and white colors. Everything was clean and a bit sterile, like the apartment was being put on display instead of being lived in.

I looked around and wished that I had a place to call my own let alone something of this magnitude.

Aria watched as I took everything in, "Enjoying the view Raven?"

I cleared my throat to hide my embarrassment but red was already coloring my cheeks.

"Not used to seeing a view like this, that's all. So what drugs am I on?"

Aria smirked at me.

"One of the doctors at Solous Clinic gave you medi-gel in addition to pain killers. The vorcha who tried to shoot me made his own ammunition. Not only is it designed to shatter on impact, but it's meant to use explosive chemicals to burn the victim when it makes contact with another object. If it had been my head, I would have had half my skull scorched and a good chunk of bone taken off. With that said, your shoulder was shot off but it went all the way through and you suffered first and second degree burns but your suit put out most of the flames. The doctor says you have a good chance of not needing synthetic skin to be grafted onto your shoulder and that your shoulder will have scars both from the shot and from the burns."

I looked down at my left shoulder, it was wrapped so much that it may as well have been a cast itself. Aria stood up from the couch and sauntered over to a leather chair across from me on the either side of the coffee table that sat in between us.

Her gaze swept up and down me, "You're going to be out of commission for a while Raven. I'm ordering you to be off duty until one of my doctors says you are fit to return. I'll call Bray, when he gets here, tell him to take you home."

My gaze had been on her the whole time until she brought up having a home. I lowered my gaze and my jaw clenched slightly, next thing I know Aria's hand was gripped around my jaw and my eyes were brought up to hers. _Ah crap._

"Where are you staying Raven?"

Her voice was low and demanding, it reminded me of a drill sergeant I saw once on the Citadel who was yelling at his recruits that every shot that was ever fired would be made to count, if you didn't have a lock on a target you did not fire or an innocent person could die due to that soldier's rash actions.

Aria's grip tightened on my jaw and her look grew even sharper. I took in a deep breath; I don't like telling people about my living situation simply because I feel guilty and ashamed by it. So I let my lungs fill up with as much air as they can hold and let it out slowly as I looked right into Aria's eyes.

"I'm a vagrant _ma'am_."

My voice cracked when I said ma'am and I mentally kicked myself for letting my emotions get the better of me. She blinked in surprise and let go of my jaw. "I see."

Vagrants take up space, air, and black credits in the Terminus Systems and Omega's economic system took both black credits and clean credits. Money means everything on this station and if I "bum" off of businesses and don't pay back my share into the system through rent or major sales then I'm taking precious resources and telling people more or less to fuck off cuz I think I'm better than them; at least that's how a lot of business owners, including merc groups would see it and that makes me fair game to have a bullet in my head.

I didn't move, this was an awkward position for me. I've never told anyone that I was homeless before and no one really suspected because I had good armor and weapons. I normally didn't dwell on my living situation much, I would just plan for the short term and long term.

The short term was making sure I got enough to eat and find a safe place to sleep. As far as long term went I became a bouncer at Afterlife so I could make money to sustain myself and save whatever I needed to pay the cheapest place to rent, I had a few more paychecks to go in order to get a somewhat decent place on the station when Aria gave me a proposition.

The offer was to do a test run with Bray and his crew on a few missions, both on and off station. If I did well with Bray's group I could become part of the crew permanently. It sounded like a good opportunity and I agreed to do it, I didn't think that Aria would have a big catch in the deal however.

The catch was I would do the trial period without being paid, so I'm still free loading off the batarian running a kiosk near Afterlife. If I make his sales look good I get a bunk in his back room, I'm on my own for everything else.

Aria straightened back up and continued to examine me with her demanding eyes. I could feel my heart pounding in my ears, it was loud and it made my head hurt a bit, I kept my eyes on the floor and refused to look at her.

I didn't want to see Aria's judgment and anger in her eyes, regardless of what I may have done for her no one likes a vagrant.

I felt gentle pressure on my knee and I looked up in surprise, the only person to ever touch me like that had died a long time ago. Aria's face wasn't sharp, cold, angry, or even disgusted; instead she seemed surprised, in fact she looked startled.

I shifted so my feet were on the floor and I sat upright. I felt weird just lying about on a couch in front of my boss. I made eye contact with her briefly, but I looked away after a second or two. I never thought I would be in Aria's house for anything unless I was guarding her; and this was not that kind of situation.

"You can stay here Raven. For as long as you need. I have a spare room."

I opened my mouth to say…. I didn't know what to say. My head felt funny from the pain killers, I survived an assassination shot and fell off a mining platform that should have killed me, and now my boss was acting like a person who might actually give a damn about what happens to me.

"Thank you."

My voice sounded somewhat strangled and cracked so I cleared my throat and tried again but Aria held up her hand.

"You don't need to explain. Just stay here, rest up, and heal."

With that, she got up and motioned me to follow her. I slowly stood up, my head still felt woozy but I took a few cautious steps and followed her down a white and grey boarded hallway. She opened a sliding door and tapped it to get my attention.

"This door is bullet proof, you'll find everything here is bullet proof. My walls can't be scanned unless I give access and all the food I have here is checked multiple times for poison and tracers. Just in case."

She gave me a smirk and I chuckled at that last part. I looked past Aria's shoulder and saw the sleek looking bed that could be pushed into the wall. The desk and drawers were all pull outs just like the bed. I took a step further into the room and felt padding under my feet. I raised an eyebrow at Aria, "Isn't padding a bit much? The bullet proof walls should cover it."

Aria leaned against the doorframe and gave me a mischievous smile.

"This is my place and I'm letting you stay here. If you're going to question my padded floors you can find somewhere else to bunk."

Aria walked past me and I thought _good point, better shut up. _She pushed in all the slide out pieces of furniture back into the walls and stepped on a section of the floor. It clicked and raised up, it was a punching bag.

"I can turn this entire place into a high security bunker at the drop of a dime. Or I can use this space to train in."

She typed some things into her omni-tool and the white circular punching bag lit up a bright red. Aria threw a round house kick at it then landed and lifted her rear leg to do a front head kick, next she threw a double hand knife strike and then dropped to the floor.

The top section of the punching bag shot out and had tried to hit Aria square in the face. She had gotten back up but was still crouched low to the ground. A section of the wall came out and tried to sweep Aria off her feet but she nimbly jumped up and drove her foot down into the sweeper, making it retract and seal back up.

With that Aria turned the program off with her omni-tool and pulled out the bed again. I stood there in the door with my mouth hanging open and all I could think was, _Holy shit she has the place totally rigged! _Aria chuckled and pulled out a section of the wall to create a chair and sat down.

"Are you really that surprised that I can fight?"

I sat down on the bed and shook my head in response.

"No I know you can fight. I saw the vids from when you and Shepard were taking back the station. I was impressed by your biotic, really impressed- My jaw was hanging open cuz I can't believe you have this place rigged so well. I understand the bullet proof material and the poison scanners, but tracers? The fact this entire place can be used as a base of operations or training facility? Shit."

Aria laughed at me. She laughed so hard she threw her head back and was holding her stomach. When she finally stopped laughing she shook her head and smiled at me.

"I like your honesty. Most people wouldn't dare talk to me like that and normally I prefer it that way; less chance of being crossed."

She leaned back into her chair and gave me a meaningful look that said _so remember who you're talking to._ The bed I was sitting on was very comfortable and I still felt a little bit sleepy but I had a question. Why would Aria have a spare bedroom?

"Why do you have a spare room?"

Aria's eyes narrowed a bit and her body tensed up.

"Came with the place."

_Yeah right _I thought. She has so much money she could design this place and I would bet every single piece of equipment that I own that she didn't just "find" this place. I wouldn't push the subject on why she had a second room but that line was complete bullshit.

I shook my head and ticked my reasons off my fingers, "You have bullet proof material, you can shape any of these rooms any way you want, and you have this whole place synced up to your omni-tool. There's no way you just found this and bought it. You have a lot of money Aria. I would bet an arm and a leg that you designed this whole place."

I must have struck a nerve cuz Aria's fingers curled into her palms and she was making fists. _Shit…_ I slowly positioned myself so I was on the edge of the bed, if she was going to attack me I'd be ready. It doesn't take much for Aria to issue an order for someone to die and it didn't matter what her reasons were; people just did as they were told and shot em. If I was lucky I could clear the door before she threw her biotics at me, but like I said earlier she can fight. And boy does she fight dirty. _I'm fucked._

She glared at me but she visibly took a deep breath in and closed her eyes. Some time passed and she slowly breathed out.

"I don't need to explain my home designs to you."

She stood up abruptly and stiffly started to head for the door. I gave an inner sigh, damn that was close. I need to watch what I say; must be these damn drugs. I watched her start heading for the door and I saw something pass over her face. It was similar to a look I had seen once before when a drunk customer at Afterlife said that Nyreen was the only hero Omega has ever head besides Archangel. Aria had looked sad, slightly pained, and at the same time I saw a look of old love. I had heard that Aria and Nyreen had once been together, but they parted ways. I could see how it wouldn't; given Aria and Nyreen's personalities are _way _too different.

I compared this look from what I saw last time. She looked sad for sure, but it appeared that what I said had made her think of an old memory too. Perhaps this _had_ been Nyreen's old room. If that was the case then no wonder she got so pissed.

Aria saw me balancing on the edge of the bed and she had a cold smirk on her face.

"You can relax Raven. If I wanted you killed I'd have Bray take you outside. I don't need blood stains on my carpet."

She walked over to where I was sitting and I pushed myself further away from her. I don't like getting people too close to me if I don't know them real well and Aria is not exactly someone you want to have up close in your space. It usually means you'll be shot, ripped apart, and stabbed before being thrown off a cliff. Her smirk got even bigger and she stretched her arm to open a compartment behind me that held bedding, blankets, and a fluffed up pillow.

"Here."

Aria gave me the bedding and headed towards the door.

"-and Raven, I appreciate what you did for me yesterday, but that doesn't mean you get to ask 21 questions. If there's anything else you need just let me or Bray know."

I nodded my thanks and cleared my throat.

"Yes ma'am."

Aria dismissed my comment and left.

**Aria's P.O.V.**

I left the bedroom I put Raven up in and sighed once I got into my own personal chambers. I sat down in front of my private terminal and typed in my password for the month.

I called up years' worth of photographs and videos. _Why do you have a spare bedroom? _I pulled up the picture I had taken of Liselle and I when she was born.

She looked so small and fragile then but the truth was that it was _I _who had been the fragile one that day, not her. I was a woman who had grabbed Omega from Patriach's claws and allowed him to survive to tell the tale on how I had defeated him. I was powerful, dangerous, and lethal to the point that I turned Patriach into a broken krogan, a very hard thing to do but I had indeed done it. When Liselle had been born though I wasn't any of those things.

I was a new mother who stared at her beautiful child in awe. I was in awe because despite all the things I was capable of doing to others there was nothing that could have prepared me for what I felt when my daughter was born. I felt pure joy and experienced a lightness I had never felt before. And when Liselle gripped my finger in her little hand I felt a wall just break within me and all kinds of emotions flooded into me. Love, adoration, being in awe of bringing life into the world, and absolute shock that a being who couldn't even feed herself had managed to tame me for a moment and bring me to my knees.

That day had changed my life forever. I went through a few more photos of Liselle growing up. Her first birthday, first tooth that fell out, that day I bought Liselle a jumper she just _had _to have.

My heart ached and I closed my eyes. I missed Liselle. Despite the fact I had to keep her hidden and make her live a life of secrecy and danger, she had been a little ray of light in my very dark and dangerous world. Then I pulled up footage of Shepard killing Kai Leng. My hands clenched and I zoomed in closer as I watched Shepard deflect his sword and brought his own omni-blade out to skewer him like the low life dog he was.

I hadn't known it at the time but it was Kai Leng who had killed my daughter and I was very happy now about the fact the filthy bastard was dead, but I wished so badly that I had been the one to kill him and not Shepard.

I released a breath I hadn't known I had been holding and I made my hands unclench. If I wasn't able to kill the bastard though I was glad Shepard had been able to do it for me. I exited out of my terminal and sat back into my chair.

It's been almost two hundred years since Shepard took out Leng but every once in a while I still see Liselle and Nyreen around. I rubbed my forehead and tried to ease the headache I had coming on.

I haven't thought about Liselle in a long time. It still hurts to think about her. A mother never gets over the death of their child. The concept was so….putrid. A parent _never _should have to outlive their child. But there's nothing I can do about it now, so there's no point in dwelling on it.

I looked at the clock and noticed six hours had actually passed since I left Raven's new sleeping quarters. I smiled a little at the thought of Raven. I find her amusing, but I can't have her questioning me so I need to keep an eye on her. No one has had the nerve to ask me about my private life or question me in hundreds of years, I didn't like it.

_Why do you have a spare bedroom? _I pulled up the security cameras and looked at the room Raven was sleeping in. The room had been Liselle's and I haven't really been in there since….. the day she moved out and again when I discovered she had been murdered.

Raven tossed in her sleep and muttered something but I wasn't paying too much attention to the screen. Instead I was thinking about the events that took place the other day.

The way Raven threw herself in front of me, it looked like she didn't have any second thoughts about getting shot; she just did it. Her actions were admirable, but what were her reasons? My boys have been guarding me for years, I command loyalty and experience from them. But not Raven, she was brand new, this was just to give her a trial run and along the way she ended up in the cross fire of an assassination.

But why? I drummed my fingers on the desk as I thought about this. She seems to have some ethics like Nyreen did, perhaps she was just being honorable. Nyreen was never a gun for hire though, and it looks like Raven may not be either. Nyreen also never wanted civilians to get caught up in mercenary drama nor did she want life to be wasted, if the life was a good one. Did Raven jump in front of the bullet because it was her job or because she thought I was worth saving?

That question could only be answered in time by letting Raven stay on as a guard. Then another comment Raven made entered my mind, _I'm a vagrant ma'am. _Raven most likely doesn't have any money and the kid is doing a trial run for me. She's certainly proven she can handle the job.

I tilted my chair back and scoffed at that thought, of course she'd proven it! She took a shot that was meant for me. Her duty couldn't be questioned, or her skills, so I suppose that means she should get paid now.

I picked up a pad and sent Bray a note to put Raven down on the rolls for when she gets back on her feet. He acknowledged my order and made a note of it in his files.

I set the pad back down and my thoughts drifted back to Liselle. I was glad at the way she had turned out. To be honest I couldn't have asked for anything more. I may not have planned for Liselle being born, but once she came into the world I made sure she was taken care of and safe, at least as safe as a unknown daughter of Aria T'Loak can be.

I documented everything I could with pictures and videos of her when she was very young but I had to get back to work, my absence had raised questions. So I had decided to keep an eye on Liselle, have the best people teach her and train her in secret, other than that though I had to keep her at arm's length.

It had been the best way to protect her given my position on Omega but as Liselle grew up I could tell she understood why I did it.

When Liselle turned a hundred she came into my office and informed me that she had been learning how to fight and wanted me to teach her about how my business worked. I laughed outright at the situation. I had been keeping my daughter at arm's length to keep her safe and she wanted to learn everything that I did for a living.

I had given it some thought, it actually hadn't been a bad idea. I was good at running Omega but if I had been trained from Liselle's age… I could only imagine what would have been accomplished.

So I taught Liselle how to fight. She was taught weapons, tactics, and the art of torture for information by Bray while I taught her how to use her biotics to the best of her advantage. In addition to that I taught Liselle how to draw out torture to make a point and provide a message for other people who may think to challenge her later in life.

I got up and picked up the clay cup Liselle made for me on Mother's Day when she was twenty-five. My daughter did very well in her studies so when I felt she was ready I told her she could enter the business and work for me.

Liselle had agreed that she was ready and moved out of my little sanctuary for her and made a life for herself out on Omega's streets. No one ever suspected that Liselle was my daughter either once she entered my ranks.

In fact Liselle made it a point to question commands a few times during her service. She even disobeyed an order her commander gave her once during a mission. She was told to stay with a cargo shipment of red sand on a shuttle that was docked at the Citadel while the rest of her squad fought off C-Sec officers, but instead she left the shuttle to help get all of her squad mates onto the shuttle. Her commander later yelled at her for insubordination and made her sit on watch duty for the next month to make a point.

My daughter did well to conceal her identity and I was very proud of her skills and intelligence. She did better than what I had expected of her and really what else could a mother want?

I sighed though and put the homemade cup back down. I needed to get my mind off of Liselle. Dwelling on the past would do nothing, I needed to think of the here and now. The past can't be changed but the present can shape the future so I needed to just focus on work and move on.

I went back to my desk and picked up a pad to take a look at profit shipments that came in recently when I heard something. I grabbed my gun out of habit and scanned the room but no one was there.

I looked at my screens and saw no one besides me and Raven where in my place so I relaxed my hold on the gun and took a closer look at my security cameras.

The noise was coming from Raven. The young girl was struggling against something in her sleep. I noticed her movements were slow and sluggish but she was indeed fighting something, and if she didn't wake up soon that arm of hers was going to hit something. I got up from my chair to wake up Raven before she caused herself more injury and that's when she began to moan in her sleep.

"Let go of me!"

She tossed and turned some more and moaned again.

"Get off me!"

I quickly left my chambers and went down the hall and palmed open Raven's door. She was a mess. Her bandages were coming apart and I saw that she was very close to falling off the bed soon.

I strode over to her and gently supported her head and torso with my arms and guided her back towards the bed but she tried to resist me.

"Nooo.."

It came out as a sob and I frowned, Raven struck me as a tough woman who could handle her own but this display was showing me a different side to the young human. Whatever she was dreaming about was causing her a great deal of stress, but that wasn't my problem.

So I hit the light switch near the bed and the lights came on.

"Raven." I gently shook her, "Raven wake up."

Her body jerked and she gasped like she wasn't getting enough air. The sheets were stuck to her body every which way and she was shaking like a leaf.

Raven tried to struggle out of my grasp but I kept a firm grip on her, couldn't risk her getting more injuries.

"Calm down. You're still in my quarters."

She took a few deep breaths and I could tell she was trying to subdue her shaking, but it wasn't going over well.

Raven sat up all the way and swung her legs over the bed, then she put some distance between us.

"Sorry boss." She mumbled. She tried to cross her arms but due to her injuries that wasn't going to be possible and she grunted in pain from the motion.

I stood up and nodded, "I hope there will be no more of these outbursts tonight."

Raven didn't speak, she just nodded and went back to the bed. On my way out I said, "We'll need to change your bandages in the morning too." Then I left her room and I went back into my own room to sleep. I turned the lights off when I slipped into my bed and my last thought was about Liselle before I closed my eyes and went to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3 Doctor's Orders

Chapter 3

Doctor's Orders

**Raven's P.O.V.**

**0800 hours**

I woke up feeling like shit. I'm not used to sleeping on a soft bed and I didn't exactly have very pleasant dreams. Then my brain actually remembered what happened last night and I swore softly as I hid my face behind my good hand. _Of all the times to have nightmares and I just HAD to have one last night?! _

Every once in a while I get bad dreams, just some bad memories of my childhood. I usually don't think about them so the nightmares are very rare. I frowned as I tried to think about whether or not if I had been thinking about it at all lately. I don't remember discerning about it, I was too busy finding a job here on the station and then keeping it once I got one.

I groaned, of all people to witness me in that state, Aria T'Loak was the very _last _person I wanted to see that! I remember I had been in the dream and all of a sudden I was ripped out of it. My boss's face loomed over mine and I was still panicked from what I had seen so I didn't register her face was in front of mine at first.

_His eyes were muddled and he reached for a kitchen knife. My heart felt like it would burst out of my chest. _

The next thing I know I'm gasping for breath and someone's telling me to more or less get a grip on myself, that someone just happened to be my hard core, bad ass, boss. _Great. The last thing I need is for my boss to think I'm suffering PTSD from what happened the other day at that old mine shaft. _

I rubbed my hand over my face and sighed. There's nothing I can do about it now. The best thing to do is act like it never happened, maybe Aria won't bring it up. Or maybe she'll say something like "It's probably best if we find you different work". God forbid she tells me to see a shrink. _Fuck that! _I ain't doing that for anybody, not even Aria T'Loak the Pirate Queen. Even if a gun is held to my head I am NOT seeing someone who will try to tell me that what happened to me was "unfortunate and we'll do everything we can to work through this together" Pft! Give me a break! They don't know what I went through, how the hell can they help me if they didn't go through it themselves! It's a bunch of bullshit. It does no good and they can't change what happened so why the hell do it?

If Aria mentions waking me up I'll just pretend it didn't happen and we'll see where it goes from there. _Well, I guess I can't stall anymore. Better get up and see if the boss needs anything._

So with that I got out of bed and noticed that some clothes were laid out for me, there was a note next to it.

Try these on. They should fit.

I held up the shirt with my good hand. It was navy blue down the front and back but the sides and sleeves were black. The sleeves were rolled and pinned up with a thick white strap on each arm, and they were all held in place with two large buttons. The sleeves and sides of the shirt were soft to the touch, but the front and back of the shirt seemed to be stiffer and padded. I probed the padded parts of the shirt; it was a gun vest sewed into the shirt. _Damn this is high grade. _

I put the shirt down and held up the pants. They were ordinary looking black cargo pants. They had big pockets, I was a fan of big pockets; I could carry more useful things on me when the pockets were larger. It had the regular front pockets and two large back pockets on the butt that zipped up. On the sides were two more large pockets. One was located on the outer thigh and the second one sat just above the knee.

I slipped into the pants with ease, all I had to do was pull them on one pant leg at a time and do the butt swivel dance. The shirt was another story. I carefully took the sling strap off and guided my left arm through the sleeve until it sat on my shoulder. I then put my other arm through the next sleeve and shimmed the garment over my head and down my torso.

I strained my injured shoulder a few times and seethed each time it happened, it motivated me to go slower as I put the shirt on. Eventually when the task was done I put the sling strap back on and put on some white and blue leather boots that stopped just below the knee. The clothes fit pretty well. Did Aria give me some of her old things or did she order me clothes?

Maybe it's best not to know, it was entirely possible that these clothes came from someone she killed. People who kill as much as Aria does usually keep trophies, I wouldn't be surprised if this was some kind of trophy. I shook my head, the clothes fit and that's all that the hardest task of the day done I left the room and took a right down the hall toward the living room and kitchen area. I heard the sound of bacon sizzling and the smell of French toast hit my nose. _What the hell? _I cautiously looked around the corner to see Bray flipping over some bacon slices. I walked further into the room to investigate.

"What's all this Bray?"

Bray turned around and put two slices of French toast on each plate. Two glasses of juice sat next to them.

"Aria says she didn't show you much of the pad before you went to bed last night. I got here early for debriefing, you slept a long time and I got hungry. So I'm making food." He pointed a spatula at me, "Don't just stand there kid. Eat up."

I slid into a chair and picked up a fork with my right hand, it felt so weird. I cut into the French toast with difficulty and ate it. Bray finished cooking the bacon and set the plate in between the two of us. He sat down and started eating too. He watched me go another round with the fork and gave me this look.

"Did you hurt your right arm too?"

I shook my head and determinedly finished cutting up another bite of French toast and chewed it with syrup.

"No, I'm left handed and I can't use that arm right now."

Bray chuckled and grabbed his fork and knife and proceeded to grab my plate.

"It's fine Bray." I began to pull my plate away from him but he just plucked it out of my hands.

"You need to hurry up and eat. We're going to Solus Clinic to have the doc look you over." With that he began to cut up my food and my ego got majorly bruised.

"You shot that vorcha with your right hand. Are you ambidextrous?"

Bray gave me back my plate and I started eating again with more vigor. "Yeah I am for most things but eating and writing are the only two things I didn't teach myself to do with my right hand."

I shoveled the French toast down and started to munch on the bacon. It had a little bit of crunch to it, I like it when it crunches a little. "This is good Bray. Thanks."

Bray nodded and cleared his plate from the kitchen island. "No problem. After your check up I need to head to Afterlife and meet up with Aria. Noleena offered to keep an eye on you today."

I finished the bacon and sucked down the juice, then I got up and brought my dishes over to the dish washer. Bray took the dishes from me and put them in, then closed the door.

"Is Noleena not working today?"

"No and it turns out Noleena is a medical student. She says keeping an eye on you will be good practice for her."

I gave Bray a look like _She's a what! _Bray shooed his hands at me to keep moving and he opened the door.

"Is Noleena dancing to put herself through school?"

Bray shook his head and smiled as we neared the hover car, it was red with black windows. He opened the doors for me and I sat down in the passenger seat.

"Naw. Noleena comes from a family with money. She's doing the gig because she likes it. Says its good life experience and very exciting."

Huh, I guess I learned something new about Noleena. Bray closed the doors and lifted us off the platform. He merged into sky traffic and took a few turns to get us to the Lower Wards. We parked the hover car when we reached the Lower Ward district and set out on foot, it's the only way to reach Solus Clinic when it's not a medical emergency. After Mordin died his one-time assistant Daniel named the building after him. Daniel died a century back but a picture of him and the good doctor hangs behind the front desk for all to see.

Bray walked on my left side and I caught a few people giving me sideways glances as we passed by. Word must have got out that someone tried to off Aria. A lot of people get really uncomfortable when you look them directly in the eyes here on Omega. I didn't like being stared at so I gave them my best no nonsense face and they immediately dropped their eyes and hurried away.

"So have people started talking already?"

Bray nodded and led me down a side corridor, "Aria is practically the life force on this station. People have been saying they're relieved that their ruler is still alive. A lot of people on this station still remember what it was like when it had been under Cerberus control."

I kicked a pebble as we took a winding turn down the stairs at the end of the corridor. Bray and I didn't exactly talk much when I was a bouncer. He and I would just make eye contact and nodded in each other's general direction at the start of my shift and again at the end. A few times we gave each other the _I'll back you up if there's trouble _look, but that only happened on three separate occasions. After I was offered the job to work with Bray's crew I started to talk to him some more.

He's a great teacher, I wasn't expecting that from him since he spoke so little to me before I joined his crew. He's seen a lot of battle too, he kept giving me tips and advice while we were in the middle of a gun fight when one of our missions went south. I was very surprised that he just kept on giving his awareness lecture during the gun fight. He just raised his voice louder so I could hear him over the ricochet of bullets. I had respected Bray before we started working together but after that gunfight my respect for him jumped up a few notches.

"Why do civilians get worried if someone challenges Aria?"

"Because Aria lets people maintain their free will. They choose what they want to do on this station. They can stay or leave, no one makes them stay here."

I nodded at Bray's answer even though I didn't agree with his last statement. I ended up stuck on this station and the tickets to get off are very expensive, but I could see why people would get so antsy when someone tries to take Aria's throne from her. If she ever lost her position, the next ruler or rulers may not be as kind as Aria. They could invoke taxes, rules, ransack any place they wanted and frisk people in the process. Better to keep someone like Aria in power as long as possible.

We reached the clinic and the doors slid open. Inside was the front desk and two waiting areas on either side of the desk. As we checked in and sat down I couldn't help but think of what may happen when Aria is gone. Is Aria grooming someone to take over her throne when she can't maintain her seat anymore? Or is it anyone's fair game?

I shuddered a bit at that last thought. If it was anyone's game then things could get really ugly. I decided the best way to avoid that situation was to keep Aria alive as long as possible. My original plan was to save up enough money to rent at a decent place and then save some more money on the side to get a ticket off this station.

But now I'm working for one of the most powerful people in the galaxy and get paid well, now that I think about it I'll probably be paid a lot better working for Aria then I ever would working in Council Space. Yeah, best to stick here.

The waiting room had some old beat up chairs here and there, but overall most of them were in good condition and very sturdy. The lighting was dim, it keeps patients relaxed since they have to wait a while before being attended to. Not to mention dim lighting kept kids calm. Lots of kids get scared when they have to go to the doctor so the front desk people and the nurse give them candy when they come in for their checkups; it keeps them happy most of the time.

The door off to my right slid open and a human nurse with blonde hair wearing a grey medical suit came out.

"Raven?"

Bray held up his hand to get her attention and she walked over.

"Raven the doctor will see you now."

Bray and I stood up and followed the nurse through the door and down the hallway, then we took a right turn. The examination room was open and the nurse gestured for me to sit down on the patient table.

"Doctor Arcane will see you shortly." Then she turned on her heel and left us alone in the room.

Bray leaned up against the wall and looked around, so did I. It's a habit you develop once you become part of any security detail. You take in all your surroundings, look for all the exits, judge what objects can be used as weapons or shields. Memorize the people in the room, size them up to see how well you think you could take them in a fight, etc.

I noted that the room was clean, sterile, and painted gray as opposed to the regular white you see in most hospital rooms. In one corner there was a terminal, another had a standing cabinet most likely filled with medicine but it was locked. I noticed there was also a mobile medi-gel station in the room and a mobile micro-surgical station XF-340 stood nearby.

"When we brought you in the doc had to use the ultra sound machine to release the medi-gel your suit ejected onto your skin, said something about high frequencies break down the medi-gel's formation to the body."

I eyed the ultra sound station that sat next to the medi-gel station and I silently thanked whatever god was listening for the care I had received.

"So what happened exactly Bray?"

He opened his mouth but a turian walked in closing the door behind him.

"An excellent question Miss Raven. My name is Dr. Borais Arcane, I treated you the other night."

He shook hands with me and immediately started to take my vitals with his omni-tool.

"Your blood pressure is still low but it's doing better. Ah I am afraid you tested positive for one of the toxin scans I submitted your blood too as well, it came from your suit when it melted against your skin from the incendiary round. Could you breathe in for me?"

_Damn _this_ guy can multi task._ I obliged and took a deep breath in and let it out when he told me to. He then began taking scans of my shoulder as he talked.

"You'll need to take some antibiotics to flush the toxins from your body. It may have already started causing an infection. Your shoulder will have to stay immobile for at least three weeks before you can do physical therapy."

I made a face, blood toxins and being three weeks immobile? Medicine has gotten really good in the past fifty years don't get me wrong but three weeks sounded like forever. Then I got to thinking about what medicine used to be like. Fifty years ago it used to be a month or two before you could start physical therapy for stuff like this. It could have been worse though.

If I were living in the 2000's instead of the 2200's I would be out for six months if not more; to top it all off the doctor would have said there would be a chance I'd never truly recover from the gunshot. Now _that _is a scary thought. If my shoulder never did heal all the way I'd probably have to give up this job and then I'd really be screwed. I sighed and resigned myself to the doctor's timeline. Three weeks was better than six months any day, and even better than giving up the total use of my left shoulder.

Dr. Arcane's mandibles quivered several times, it's the equivalent to a human smile. He projected my arm's scans for me and Bray to see. It had been broken in two places in my forearm._ No wonder I passed out. _

"The good news about your arm is that I already fused your breaks with the XF-340. Don't try to use that arm yet though since your shoulder is out of commission."

_What! If he fused the breaks in my arm then why can't my shoulder get fixed?! _

"I'm sorry Dr. Arcane I'm confused. What do you mean my arm is healed?"

Dr. Arcane chuckled and shook his head, "You've never broken a bone before?"

I shook my head no and he sat down in a black sleek looking chair. He crossed one leg over the other and looked me over.

"That's actually surprising given your work ethic. Sounds like you had a good track record. Well you see your arm is not exactly healed yet. What I did was line your arm back to where it's supposed to be. Then I used Zoralax, it's a type of reconstruction glue that can fuse your bones back together. The best way to describe it would be to think of 21st century sewing. When you thread the needle back and forth through ripped cloth you slowly start to see the rip get smaller and smaller until it is mended again. Zoralax does the same thing. It more or less regrows your bone marrow and seals itself back up, but it does take time. It can go anywhere between a few days to a few weeks depending on the break. If your arm had been fractured the breaks would have healed within a matter of three days, but since you actually broke the bone it'll more likely take three weeks."

Dr. Arcane made eye contact with me to make sure I was understanding his explanation.

"So your recovery time actually works out pretty great. Your shoulder's mobility and arm more or less take about the same time to recover. But- " Dr. Arcane held up a finger, "- due to the muscular damage you sustained from the bullet, the fragments of the bullet itself when it shattered, and the chemical burns that resulted from the bullet's chemical makeup, your shoulder will need more time to heal. In three weeks' time you can start range of mobility exercises. Overall I think we're looking at one month minimum for you to recover, and that's IF you don't over use your arm and IF you actually rest and IF you don't rush through your physical therapy."

Bray smirked as I turned bright red at Dr. Arcane's words. I'm not a very patient person when I get hurt. I tend to feel antsy and restless, which leads to me pushing my boundaries and testing my limits. As an athlete and mercenary those are admirable traits to have, as a patient I'm sure Dr. Arcane would find it very distasteful. Bray cleared his throat and my eyes strayed over to him.

"I may have mentioned that you have aggressive and competitive tendencies."

I sneered at him and he actually chuckled. Then he shrugged like my thoughts on the matter were trivial while his and Dr. Arcane's thoughts were better intended than mine, and they probably were as much as I hate to admit it. Dr. Arcane got up from his chair and brought over the mobile medi-gel station. He swiveled the station so it stood at my shoulder level and he gently took me out of my sling.

"Your scars may fade over time but I can't be sure."

As he said that I saw my skin for the first time since the fight. My skin was a variety of colors. It was black, blue, red, and green. The black and blue was just massive bruising with green splotches in between. My skin had angry red vines that stood out stark against the black, blue, and green background. It looked kind of like a dark piece of art, except for the part where this wasn't a tattoo.

Bray whistled when he saw my shoulder and Dr. Arcane got the medi-gel dispenser ready.

"Medi-gel is a great moisturizing application. Your skin for the most part is retaining fluids but I'd like for you to apply medi-gel every three days to keep the moisture locked in and to make sure that infection doesn't sneak in."

I nodded and Dr. Arcane administered some medi-gel to my shoulder. With that done Dr. Arcane put fresh bandages on me and said I could give myself self-administered applications of medi-gel at home. Bray and I said farewell to the good doctor and left Solus Clinic. When Bray brought me back to Aria's pad Noleena was waiting for us on the couch.

"Hey Bray. So how did the appointment go?"

I sat down on the couch with Noleena as Bray washed his hands at the kitchen sink.

"Better than I thought. Doc says Raven may heal within a month if she's careful of her shoulder. In three weeks she can begin physical therapy. He also said unless Raven experiences a lot of pain during physical therapy the bullet fragments stay in her shoulder."

Noleena gave me a warm smile, "That sounds like good news to me. It could have been a lot worse."

I nodded in agreement and waved as Bray headed for the door.

"See ya Bray."

He grunted in response and the door slid closed behind him. I turned my attention back to Noleena and looked her over. Noleena had dark blue skin with a purple ting underneath. I read somewhere that purple tinges normally meant there was hanar blood in one or both of the parents. Aria's father was hanar so she looked more violet than Noleena's skin did. Her fringe had white spots at the base and gradually turned into lighter blue speckles running along her cartilage tips. Her eyes of all things were green and they were a startling contrast with the rest of her coloring.

That was her best asset and she used it to her advantage in Afterlife. I've seen plenty of men ogle at the girls in the club before; asari are very attractive. But when Noleena worked on her platform the guys would go stock still and seemed to lay down roots. They were a lot like trees when she performed. You couldn't move them unless you took a hose to em.

She was wearing a feminine top and nice black slacks. Her top was a light lavender and it was made of satin. Her shoes were kicked off and strewn about on the floor. In terms of age Noleena was still in her maiden stage. I don't know exactly how old she is but I know among her people she is considered a young adult. Noleena cleared her throat and put her legs up onto the coffee table.

"So how are you feeling Raven?"

_My arm feels heavy, stiff, and itchy. It's like it won't feel better until I move it. But if I do it'll just hurt and I'll be set back in my recovery. Ugh! _I screamed internally about that. I hate not being able to fully function. Damn this is going to be a long couple of weeks.

"I feel like my shoulder has a lot of pressure built up but I know if I move it it'll just hurt like hell so I'm resisting the urge to rotate my shoulder. Other than that I guess I'm okay."

Noleena nodded in empathy to my words.

"I'm sure it's driving you crazy. You never could stay still for long at the club."

"Yeah. I'd feel weird if I just stood there like the krogan do. I can't see everything if I just stay in one spot. Besides standing around is so _boring_. The krogan are the kind that like to take action. So why do they just stand there leaning against the walls like that?"

Noleena laughed, "Maybe they don't know how to dance."

That cracked a smile out of me. "Yeah I bet you're right. It'd be great to see someone like Urdnat Wrex break loose on the dance floor though."

Noleena and I broke out laughing and tears came out of our eyes as we tried to imagine the famous Urdnat Wrex vigorously shake his tail out on the dance floor. Once my laughing subsided I looked back to Noleena and smiled at her.

"Thanks for doing this. I didn't exactly feel like I could let loose around here."

Noleena took in the apartment's decor and nodded, "Yeah Aria's place seems a bit…sterile. I can see why you'd feel awkward, and it's not like Bray is much for conversation without a drink in hand."

I snorted. She knew Bray and I talked but that was a very new occurrence.

"And how often does he drink?"

"Psh! Almost never. He should loosen up once in a while. One of these days he won't remember how to laugh I swear."

I smirked at her response and Noleena caught on. "You didn't!"

"Oh but I did."

"How?"

"The doctor was telling me to take it easy or else and Bray said he told the doc what I was like. I sneered at him and he laughed at me."

Noleena's eyes grew wide and she looked thoroughly impressed. I put my legs up on the coffee table and heaved a content sigh. It was kind of nice to relax and just talk to somebody.

"So Noleena you're a medical student huh."

Noleena blushed and looked down. "Yeah. I start doing my internship this summer so taking care of you is kind of like a warm up for that."

I grinned, "Oh I see so I'm your test subject."

She gave me a sly smile in return, "Something like that."

I was thinking of other things to talk about when Noleena got up from the couch. She held out her hand to me and I took it. She hauled me up and I gave her a questioning look.

"I never thought I would ever see Aria's private home. What do you say we poke around?"

"Is that really a good idea?"

"She said you could stay here right? I think that's invitation enough to look around. Besides-" She swept her arm out toward the kitchen, "-you have an excuse for why you started poking around."

I wasn't sure it was the best idea but Noleena can be very persuasive, and by persuasive I mean she started opening up the cupboards in the kitchen before I could give an answer. I rolled my eyes and joined her as she began to paw at the different asari and human cuisine Aria had stocked on her shelves. This stuff all looked really healthy, better than anything I've ever had in my life in fact. I munched on a Nutria bar as we continued to poke around the kitchen and off handedly I thought _If Aria gets pissed I'm blaming you Noleena and I'll sing like a canary._


	4. Chapter 4 Let's Talk Business

Sorry for the long wait on this chapter everyone. My hard drive crashed and I had to redo some of my work from scratch. I really wanted to explore what Aria does during a typical 'work day' on Omega and this is what happened. I hope you like it.

**Let's Talk Business**

**Aria's P.O.V. **

**3 hours earlier**

I woke up at three this morning to go over my new investments and half way through my review I decided to go on the extranet. I went to a popular clothing site and started browsing for Raven. The shirt she was wearing when we brought her to the Clinic was torn to shreds. I threw her old clothes away when I woke up; there was no reason to keep them. With what I witnessed last night of Raven's dreams, I felt it would be best to get rid of any reminders that may bring more unnecessary nightmares; I need my sleep too, after all.

So I was shopping for a new outfit for her, I _can_ be generous from time to time. Raven struck me as more of a masculine gal so I ordered garments I thought would suit her and requested some adjustments to be made to her shirt. If I were Raven and I was just getting over an assassination attempt, I would want to wear something bullet proof for a while.

I requested that a bullet proof lining be added to her shirt. An hour later one of my men showed up at my door with a package that was wrapped in urgent, fast track mail wrapping. I had Grizz do a routine scan and then once it was deemed safe I checked to make sure it was exactly what I ordered. I was satisfied that everything was in order and I sent Grizz away. I walked down the hall and brought the package into Raven's bedroom and set them on the floor next to the bed with a note where Raven could get at them when she woke up.

This reminded me of shopping with Liselle on rare occasions. She loved it whenever we had these outings off world. It meant she had me for a whole day while I left my second in command in charge.

I found myself going back to my room, and going through some of Liselle's old things that I had packed away behind one of my walls. My thumb caressed the collar of Liselle's favorite jacket she would wear when she went clubbing. It was black, sleek, shiny, and it showed off her breasts. I had told Liselle that the jacket would draw unwanted attention to herself, and she replied that I almost sounded like a disapproving mother.

I had gotten angry and said she was being foolish in her life choices. This was one of the few arguments we ever had about the way I raised her. Humans would have said it's a classic mother daughter fight about letting the baby bird leave the nest, but it isn't classic when a famous crime lord is trying to hide her unknown child from the rest of the universe.

I pulled my hand away from the jacket and sighed. Liselle and I had our ups and downs. I had accepted that we would have a rocky relationship the moment Liselle had been born, and in the end she did well. I clenched my hands into fists as an image of my daughter found lying on a crumpled bed with her throat slit and her blood drained entered my mind.

_I wish I could have given that bastard a slow, drawn out, and very painful death. _I shook my head sharply and angrily put the box of clothes back into their hiding place behind my walls.

I left my room and noticed that my coffee was almost ready. I rolled my shoulders as I reached for a coffee mug from the cupboards and set it down on the kitchen island. Most people have their coffee come out of their food and beverage dispensers these days but I like the way coffee smells and tastes when it's actually brewed in a coffee pot.

The flavor and texture is richer this way but people don't have the patience to wait for it to be brewed. When the pot beeped that it was finished I poured myself a cup and blew on it as I leaned against the kitchen island.

I took a sip of my coffee and made a note on my data pad to talk to Raven today and arrange for her things to be brought here once I have Bray find out where she's been staying. With that done I set down my data pad and savored my coffee.

I truly did enjoy Raven's presence when she worked as a bouncer for me in Afterlife. She always made things more energetic. Unlike most of the men I hired she didn't just sit along the sidelines and watch. She would actually mingle with the crowd, even dance every once in a while if it was near the end of her watch.

Raven was an attention getter in my club for the sole reason that she was a female bouncer. I never had any women approach me to ask if they could be bouncers before; they wanted to either be dancers or bar tenders. So when Raven came in and asked if Afterlife was looking for more security detail I had been intrigued.

She kept a sense of order around her when she was on shift in addition to the energy that would follow her. I also liked how my entertainers got along with her so it didn't really bother me to have Raven here at my pad. It was the fact she was staying in Liselle's room that put me a bit on edge. I felt even _more _on edge now that I had been foolish enough to look through my late daughter's things.

I had been doing a great job of not thinking about her very much. This in home patient treatment however, was having me think about Liselle a lot more often than I was used to. And thinking about my daughterwas making me quicker to bite people's heads off more so than usual.

I had received a call last night from one of the sand dealers I do business with on Illium. He wanted an update on when my people would pick up his shipment. My response was that if he couldn't have enough sense to have a VI keep track of his deals then maybe he shouldn't be in this business. I went on to say if he asked me a question like that again I'd end our business relationship.

I meant every word I said to him, I just hadn't been planning on screaming it at him. Thinking about Liselle last night had wound me up pretty tight; so when Zolaris called I ended up taking my anger out on him.

My Omni-tool lit up when the motion sensors at my front door went off. I opened up a screen to show me that Bray was standing at my door. He was waiting_ ever_ so patiently to be let in. I quirked my lips as Bray switched his weight from one foot to another constantly. Bray never could keep still for very long, he'd get twitchy and start re-checking everything to stay busy. I let Bray in and we went over to the living room to debrief as usual.

"How'd Raven do last night?"

"Her status didn't change much after you left last night. She woke up four hours after you were gone and we had a chat. I told her if she wanted she could stay with us or she could leave if that suited her, she chose to stay."

Bray smirked, "She's got guts that one. She may be young but she's got experience as a mercenary. It's been a while since we've come across people that started out as young as Raven did in this business."

I nodded, "Yes it has been quite some time since mercenaries have recruited people as young as Raven was when she started. I didn't get much of a chance to show Raven where everything is, she was still very groggy when we talked. She's only seen the living room and the bedroom that I showed her last night."

Bray leaned forward in his chair. "Wait, she's still here? I thought you gave Grizz or Hypax a call to take her home since I never got anything last night."

A frown began to touch my face as I spoke, "Yes she's here. There's a slight complication with Raven's living arrangements."

Bray sat back further in his chair again. "She havin' trouble making rent or something?"

I shrugged and crossed my right ankle over my left knee. "Raven says she's a vagrant. I was surprised when she told me. She didn't seem to be having any trouble."

Bray took out his data pad, "Do you want me to make some inquiries on her whereabouts while she was working at Afterlife?"

"Yes that would be helpful. I don't know when I'll see Raven today or if she'll even be awake when I do see her. Speaking of Raven-"

I opened my data pad and looked at her follow up appointment with Dr. Arcane. It was set for 0900 this morning. "-I'll need you to take Raven for her follow up this morning. See how long he thinks it'll take for her to recover. Make sure when she starts working again that she's up on the rolls."

Bray nodded in acknowledgement as he reviewed our business deals we've made this past week. "Yeah I got your email. Oh by the way, Zolaris says you bit his head off last night."

I scoffed, "Zolaris is an idiot. I got a call from him and he was asking for an update on his shipment. He wanted to know when we'd be there to pick it up."

"We've disclosed that information already."

"I know. He _forgot_."

Bray shook his head in disgust. "No wonder you bit his head off. Idiot."

I reviewed security footage of one of my men carrying out my order to kill Weido, a salarian operative who almost exposed one of my trading operations to C-Sec. I felt satisfaction bloom in my gut as his brains were blown out on my screen, he tried to bribe my man off but my guy knows better. You fuck with me you get killed, end of story.

Once I was done watching the clip I turned back to Bray. "In all honesty I think after this deal we should look for other red sand dealers. Someone who doesn't need their hand held."

"Agreed." Was his curt response.

I switched off my pad, "Then it's settled. We terminate our contract with Zolaris after this trade and we get someone else."

I stood up from the couch and stretched. I have a meeting with the Eclipse Sisters soon. They want to talk to me about expanding their services and they want to do it more in my territory. The details of the message had been short but it did include split profits that I would receive if I said yes.

I however wasn't meeting them for their expansion; I would be there to put them back in their place.

"I'll see you at Afterlife when I get done with this meeting."

Bray gave me another nod and he turned on the TV. He's not used to babysitting anybody. I wonder how he'll do with Raven today.

"And remember Bray play nice. I'd like to keep this one." I smirked and added, "Who knows she might be as good as you one day."

Bray gave me this sullen look and just flipped through another channel. I snickered at his reaction and I left him to his own devices.

Once I got to Afterlife I opened up one of my private rooms, I do my more _sensitive_ talks in here. I settled down on the black couch similar to the one I have upstairs and waited for the Eclipse Sisters to show. My guards accompanying me for this meeting were Grizz and Hypax.

Grizz stood on my left and held his pistol with a relaxed grip. Hypax leaned against the wall to my right and held his assault rifle just as casually as Grizz did. The door slid open and one of my krogan bouncers stepped aside to let three slim asari commandos walk in.

All three women wore the same armor and had the red Eclipse face tattoo that Eclipse mercs could get once when they completed their writ of passage. The Eclipse Sisters really are sisters unknown to the general public, and all three share the same 'father'; most asari will have several partners when conceiving children. They do this to keep the gene pool diverse, but the Eclipse Sisters were brought into the world by the same person, a drell in fact, a rare pairing for asari since in the past the drell were so few.

The three sisters, Zolen the eldest, Moreen the middle child and Yolan, the baby. Zolen stood in between her two sisters; she was the most powerful biotic of the three making her the head boss of the Eclipse. After Sayn died a century ago the three sisters took over the business and made it even bigger than it had ever been under Sayn's leadership.

Moreen stood off to the right, she was second in command. Moreen had the best business sense of the three sisters and was in charge of brokering the bigger contracts that Eclipse took on.

Yolan may not have the brains for business and not as strong as Zolen, but she is very talented when it comes to sabotage. Yolan and Moreen in truth are the ones that got Eclipse up off of the ground; Zolen would just make sure that the operations went smoothly and was used as the official face of Eclipse so that her two sisters could run operations more smoothly in the background.

When the merc group got bigger, the girls had to recruit more people and vigorously train them to keep the operation running smoothly.

"Ladies-" I said with a sly smirk and smoldering gaze, "-glad you could make it."

"Aria," Zolen said with a brisk nod.

Yolan sized up Grizz and Hypax while Moreen went straight to business.

"So Aria, you know we want to expand. Do you want a cut of the profits or do we keep looking elsewhere?"

I took a sip of brandy that Grizz gave me and I grinned at Moreen.

"Not much for small talk are we Moreen? Truth be told, all I said was that I would meet with you, not discuss your proposition."

Zolen gave me a wary look, "Did you have something else in mind Aria?"

I swirled the brandy around in my cup a few times and then set it down on the table in front of me. All three women watched as I set the glass down and their gaze flicked back up to me.

"The purpose of this meeting is to remind you how Omega operates. There are no laws, but there is one rule. 'Don't fuck with Aria.' I'm beginning to think that you girls are forgetting that rule."

Moreen nervously swallowed at my words while Yolan took a step forward.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about Aria. Have we done something wrong?"

I pulled up pictures and videos of the girls making deals, brokering contracts, and extending their security services to a few people who have crossed me in the past.

"You've been talking with a few people on my shit list."

I zoomed in on Eclipse mercs guarding Jeodora, one of many people that have tried to kill me. He's one of the few vorcha to have lived past twenty mainly because he went underground after I thwarted his attempts to have me killed.

Most vorcha used to die by age twenty simply because their intelligence was very minimal and their aggression was very high. Their genetic makeup also prevented them from living past forty if they weren't shot first. But a salarian made a breakthrough while he conducted research on the vorcha to see if they could be of any use as soldiers if their lifespans were to be extended.

Turns out the longer the vorchas live, their aggressive tendencies can mellow out and their intelligence can increase.

The salarians of course wanted to shape and mold the vorcha to become smarter, faster, stronger, and more agile so they could use them to help with their STG teams. Now the vorcha have been getting stronger and their lifespan has gone from the average twenty years to almost a full century.

Their lifespan may increase again if the salarians figure out how to keep the vorcha's separate cells from burning out when they adapt themselves to new environments.

Jeodora is the oldest living vorcha in history since he ran from Omega. A shame he had to die now that he tried to get back into the game. The scene in the video was of him and two asari commandos standing on a ritzy balcony at a hotel in Illium.

_"These girls better be good at their jobs Yolan or else I'm dead."_

_"Jeodora, they're two of Zolen's best agents. They'll keep you safe."_

_"If Aria finds out about that generous gift I gave you she'll plant me on her wall in Afterlife! Don't screw this up. Let me know when-"_

Jeodora was interrupted by one of the asari mercs.

_"Get down!"_

She pushed him to the ground and barely got out of the way of a bullet as it hit the wall behind her head.

Pirates rained bullets over Jeodora's balcony and the Eclipse bodyguards fired back. Jeodora curled up into a tight ball and screamed, _"Damn it all! This is her isn't it!?"_

The video clip ended and both of Yolan's sisters seemed to lose a bit of coloring. I took another sip of my brandy and leaned forward in my seat.

"You've had Jeodora in hiding ever since, at least until now."

I nodded to Grizz and he spoke into his ear piece.

"Bring him in."

Jeodora screamed and hissed as two krogan brought him in. He fought against his restraints, but it did him no good. Yolan, Zolen, and Moreen all stood very still as he was brought in. Zolen is as tough as asari commandos come and in all my years of doing business with them I've never once seen her shake; but she was now.

Yolan was sweating and Moreen's eyes widened in shock and horror.

Jeodora screamed in panicked fury, "Don't just stand there! Kill the bitch!"

Zolen twitched and I gave her a steely look.

"It's within your best personal interests Zolen if you do things my way."

She gave me a shaky nod and her fists stayed clenched at her side. Hypax and Grizz had their guns at the ready and they were pointed at Yolan and Moreen's chests. As long as my boys kept their guns on her sisters Zolen wouldn't do a thing. She cared about her sisters too much.

I shook my head with a smirk and clucked my tongue at Jeodora's words.

"Jeodora how nice to see you again. I wish it were under better circumstances. Don't worry this will be short."

I stood up from the couch and walked over to where Jeodora was being held. I took out my pistol and looked directly into each of the Eclipse Sisters eyes, I wanted their attention.

"Break off all your contracts with the others on my shit list or I'll have my people put bullets into you like I'll do with him."

Jeodora screamed like a feral animal and fought against his restraints as well as the two krogan that held him in place for me to shoot him.

"Nooooo! Agghh!"

I raised my pistol and smiled wickedly as I pulled the trigger. The back of Jeodora's head exploded when my bullet entered his forehead and his body went limp. I holstered my gun and went back to my couch to sit.

The girls gave me terrified looks and I pointedly looked at the door.

"Think about what I've said."

Zolen grabbed Moreen and Yolan by their wrists and flew out of the room. I chuckled at their departure and told Grizz and Hypax to make sure Jeodora's body was disposed of properly so he didn't regenerate in any way and to make sure his blood didn't stain my walls. With that, I finished my drink and walked back upstairs to sit on my throne at the top of Afterlife.

An hour later Bray showed up from Raven's doctor appointment. He sat down on the adjacent cushion to me and sighed.

I looked him over to guage how the visit went. He didn't appear to be aggravated or stressed so it seemed all was well, "What did Borais say?"

Bray rubbed his face, "She'll be out of commission for a least a month, but it looks like it might be two. She has an infection from the bullet and she has to take antibiotics. In three weeks she can start physical therapy for her shoulder."

I nodded and watched one of my dancers appreciatively as she twirled her body around a pole and came down into the splits, I got a clear shot of her cleavage up here from my couch. I turned back to Bray and cleared my throat.

"Is that all?"

"Pretty much. How did the meeting go?"

I leaned into the couch's plush backing and watched as a large group of men and women went out onto the dance floor. The men each picked out someone they fancied and mustered up their drunken courage to go over to them and start grinding.

"I gave the Eclipse Sisters a warning not to pull another stunt like this again and shot Jeodora in front of them. I think they got the picture."

Bray snorted and shook his head. "If they don't get the picture soon we're going to have to shoot all three of them."

"I'm aware of that Bray. Those girls are very close to one another. If I shoot one of them the other two will retaliate. I'd rather it not come to that. I don't want to waste my ammo or people if I don't have to."

Bray nodded and stood up from his seat assuming his regular station at the top of the staircase that led up to my throne. Throughout the rest of the day I chatted with potential clients, offered security detail for high ranking criminals on the run from Citadel's finest officers, and watched people enjoy themselves at my bar.

I looked at the time and noticed it was seven p.m. It was still very early in the night but I wanted to leave Afterlife so I could talk with Raven. Bray questioned his crew to see if they knew where she was staying but Raven didn't tell anyone where she was living.

Jarral, one of my lieutenants overheard Bray's questions and she came over. She wasn't wearing any armor tonight; she was off duty and here to unwind. The strobe lights blinked across her blue skin as she walked gracefully over to where Bray was standing.

"You talking about Raven?"

Bray turned at Jarral's voice and nodded grimly.

"Yeah. Trying to find out where she's been staying these past few months."

"There's a batarian black dealer near here that she visits a lot. Most of the stuff he's got is real shoddy so I hope she hasn't bought anything from him. How's she doing?"

"She broke her arm in two places and she had a clean shot through the shoulder. But she should be back on her feet in a month or so."

"That's good to hear. Tell Raven I hope she gets better soon so we have all our sharp shooters back."

She gave Bray a card and walked back to the bar to get another drink. When Jarral sat back down in her chair Bray came over to where I was sitting and he handed me the card.

"I'll go see what I can learn from the dealer. You heading home?"

I nodded and stood up, "Yes I'll be turning in for the night. Tell Noleena she'll be relieved of her job shortly."

Bray gave me a curt nod and we parted ways for the evening. Grizz walked with me to my sky car and he got into the driver's seat. Traffic was very slow tonight, one of the upper levels had a power fluctuation and they closed it down so they could fix it. I stared out the window while I waited for the next fifteen minutes and my Omni-tool beeped.

It was Bray. Turns out, Raven's been sleeping in the dealer's back room on an army cot. The batarian's deal with Raven was if she modeled his products for him he'd give her a place to sleep. He wouldn't provide her with food, clothes, or anything else because 'he's a business man not a priest'.

I opened my Omni-tool and contacted Bray; I didn't feel like writing a response.

"Good job Bray. Get her stuff, that two bit trader will sell it all soon if we don't pick it up now."

Bray responded within moments of my message.

"I was thinking the same thing. I'll grab her stuff from here. You should see the state of this place Aria. It's got mold and exhausted eezo containers back here. She's been sleeping in this for God knows how long. You want me to bruise him?"

He sent attachments of the store room and I zoomed in on the moldy walls. Black mold and exhausted eezo containers lined the background. How was Raven not sick from breathing this stuff in? I felt a hot coal burn under my breast bone.

I had no reason to really care about the condition of that store house, this is Omega after all; we're known for being a slum station. If the trader didn't know that Raven worked as a bouncer at Afterlife I'd let this go, but if he did…

"Ask him if he knows what kind of work Raven does. If he knows she works for me then make him hurt Bray, no one screws over one of my people."

"Got it."

The level that was closed down finally opened back up and Grizz moved us forward when the traffic picked back up. He gave me a look through the rearview mirror and spoke.

"Even if that guy doesn't know where Raven worked I think his ass should be beat boss."

I raised a sleek eyebrow at Grizz's statement. He doesn't talk much, so when he says something I usually listen.

"I didn't realize you cared Grizz."

"She dragged me out of fire when I got nailed in the face with a sound grenade. If Bray doesn't beat him I will, I haven't returned the favor to Raven yet."

I looked Grizz over. His face was hard set and his orange eyes looked like burning embers. Even if that batarian hadn't known that Raven worked for me, Grizz would still make good on his threat. He doesn't get mad easily but when he does his mind is made up.

"I'm sure you'll have plenty of chances to return the favor."

We took the back way into my home. At night I never go through the front entrance, too many eyes. The path to my back door doesn't exist on any maps, blue prints or anywhere else. In fact my pad doesn't show up at all on any data banks revolving around Omega's structure. I made sure that anyone working on my pad's design would keep silent and salarians never turn back on their word, _especially_ when they're dealing with me.

Grizz pulled into my garage and I opened the doors. I gave him a bored look as I got out of the car.

"The batarian isn't important to me. If he crosses you that's your business."

Grizz nodded, this was always my way of saying_ if you don't like someone then do what you want, just don't kill them in my name unless I say so_.

"Yes boss."

He then closed the door and flew the car back out the way he came. I locked the garage up for the night and went upstairs to talk with Raven. I could hear giggling coming from the living room, Noleena no doubt. I could see Raven and Noleena's reflection through my glass fixture mounted on one of the walls in the living room.

They were relaxing on the couch. I stood in the hallway and watched for a bit. I've never seen Raven so relaxed or even act like a teenager; I was intrigued to see her with a carefree smile on her face. So I stayed just beyond the corner of the wall and listened.

Raven took a drink of water and laughed, "Okay so let me get this straight. You decided to come here because you were bored?"

Noleena shook her head and laughed, "No I came here because my mother said I should visit Omega if I was really serious about becoming a doctor. So I came here to see what it was like. I checked out the medical facilities that are here on the station and I got bored one night and ended up in Afterlife."

Raven nodded and smirked. "You're forgetting to mention the part where you somehow became an exotic dancer. How did that happen?"

Noleena blushed a bit but she recomposed herself. "I'll tell you if you take your medication right now."

"Ah Noleena come on. I smelled the bottle, it's disgusting. I'll be fine one night if I don't take it."

Noleena gave Raven a disapproving frown and threw a pillow at her. It hit her square in the face.

"Oof! Hey!"

"Raven you said you want to heal as fast as possible. That's not going to happen if you don't do what the doctor says."

Raven pouted for a second and then sighed, "Fine. I'll take it."

With that she popped two pills into her mouth and swallowed it with water as quick as she could. Her face immediately contorted and she hacked.

"Oh god that's awful!"

She chugged the rest of her water and shivered like it had been the worst under taking of her life. I smirked at her behavior; _She thinks taking medication is worse than getting shot? Now that's interesting._

"Okay Noleena I did. Now tell."

Noleena sighed and drew her knees up to her chest on the opposite end of the couch from where Raven was sitting.

"Okay but you have to swear you won't ever tell anyone."

"Yeah yeah, I swear."

Noleena wrung her hands and stared down at the floor like it was the most interesting thing she had ever seen.

I've seen that reaction plenty of times in my life. Noleena was going to confess that she liked someone. I grinned and silently laughed at the spectacle.

I knew the night Noleena did her audition at Afterlife that she had found me attractive, most people do. I leaned against the wall and watched as Noleena made her confession to Raven.

"I saw Aria in Afterlife and I thought she was really hot okay?"

Raven's eyebrows jumped up but she didn't say anything. She just listened as Noleena spilled her guts out to her.

_Of all the things I was planning on doing tonight, eavesdropping on teenage crushes was not one of them. Oh well, I could use a smile._

"I told myself what better way to see Omega than to work at Afterlife. So I learned how to dance when I went home and when I felt ready I came back and did an audition. Aria said no one has held her attention like I had for a long time so she said I was in."

Noleena shrugged her shoulders and let out a nervous breath, "So I stayed."

Raven looked like she went into cyro. Her jaw looked like it might come unhinged at any moment but instead she just sat there for a while. Then she finally nodded and cleared her throat.

"Well...I'm glad you're here now for what it's worth." She gave Noleena a mischievous smile and started to laugh.

"If I were you I'd never tell Aria about this _ever_. I get the feeling you're not the first dancer to develop a crush on her and you won't be the last. Oh honey you've got a bad case of puppy love, and boy did you ever choose the least likely candidate to ever return your affections!"

Noleena squeaked and threw another pillow at Raven, who blocked with her good arm and laughed harder.

"Of course I'll never tell her! It was a crush and I'm over it."

"Oh yeah? How long did you have a crush on her?"

"It doesn't matter."

Raven laughed some more and continued to tease her, "A century?"

"No."

"Two centuries?"

"No!"

"Hahaha! Wow Noleena three centuries?"

"Ugh! Fine! Yes three centuries. Will you drop it now?!"

Raven snickered and I shook my head at the whole situation. Poor Noleena. _I'll save her the embarrassment and pretend I just walked in. _

I took a step forward and made it sound like I had been looking for the girls.

"Raven? Noleena?"

Noleena jumped and Raven's face split into a large grin.

I ignored her expression and gave Noleena my regular appreciative look. She noticed the look and she appeared even more flustered.

My voice hummed with amusement as I spoke, "So has Raven been a hand full?"

Noleena was blushing like mad but she wasn't fidgeting, good for her.

"She's been fine for the most part. I had to make her take her pills but other than that she's been good."

Noleena gave Raven a look, her eyes pleading not to tell.

Raven gave her a sly grin and winked at her in response. I turned back to Noleena and picked up her jacket that was laid out on the coffee table.

"I can take over from here Noleena."

She took her jacket from my grasp and gave me a graceful nod as she put her jacket on and headed for the door.

"I'll see you later Raven. Good night Aria."

Raven waved after her, "Night!"

With that Noleena left my pad and I turned on all of my security systems.


	5. Chapter 5 An Unexpected Offer

I'm sorry for the long delay. My academics took up most of my time these past couple of months. I apologize for the late update and unfortunately folks this will continue to happen. I'm in my last year of my undergraduate program, so I have a lot to do. I'll make updates when I'm able. But I do have the plotline planned out in advance, so things won't be as slow as they could be. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Feel free to message me or leave reviews. I love hearing your feedback.

**Raven's POV**

When Aria called for me and Noleena we both were initially surprised and didn't know what to do for two seconds. But once I made the connection Aria was back I gave Noleena a saucy grin.

_Hehe, look who's back._ I thought.

Aria's sleek form emerged from hallway and her face lit with an alluring smile when her gaze fell on Noleena. I looked back at Noleena to see her body language become more alert.

_Poor Noleena__. __She's probably very aroused and not to mention, embarrassed._

The grin on my face just couldn't quite let the corners of my mouth relax just yet. I was too amused. Noleena saw my grin and gave me a panicked look, pleading with me with her eyes not to say a word. I slightly inclined my head toward her to show my cooperation with a small wink and she sighed in relief. As funny as it might be to see Noleena blush in front of Aria I would never say anything without her consent. Aria saw the exchange but said nothing.

Her confession was a bit surprising I'll admit, but Noleena's probably one of thousands to have a crush on her. I mean I guess I can see why. She's attractive, hard core, and a total badass. But Aria is also the pirate queen and that means she's crushed plenty of people to get to where she is now. Even if that meant killing a few people close to her along the way, there were rumors of her back stabbing people that stood in her way of claiming Omega's throne. And to be honest, I think that Aria enjoys terrorizing people. I wouldn't be surprised if she genuinely likes killing people too. She's been around for a long time, at least eight hundred years, give or take.

Aria showed Noleena out and locked the door after she left. She sat down across from me and asked me how I was feeling. I resisted the urge to rotate my injured shoulder. It still feels like if I just move it then a lot of stiffness and pressure will just work itself out, but Bray assured me that I will not feel relieved. I growled my frustration and tapped my fingers restlessly on the leather couch cushion.

"I hate sitting around doing nothing. And my left arm is completely out of commission for at least a month." With my cranky thoughts and feelings understood, I added,"-How was work?"

Aria seemed amused by my irritability and gave a deep chuckle. Figures- she's not the one who got shot and had her arm broken in two places.

"I've never seen you so impatient. It's amusing. You may not like it but you're off the rolls until you heal. I need guards who can move all their limbs freely. Part of the protection gig I'm afraid."

I huffed in irritation. She was right. I hate waiting. While I fidgeted on the couch with impatience at my injury situation Aria went to the kitchen and grabbed some alcohol from her fridge and returned with dark eyes that danced like a sly salarian salesman.

I restlessly shook my foot and tapped my fingers on the couch, "So? Anything interesting happen while I've been sitting around here?"

Aria took a drink of her alcohol and chuckled, "No firefights if that's what you're asking."

And that's all she'll probably say. I am just a bodyguard after all. The only person who knows Aria's complete job is Bray. Not even Aria's hackers, spies, or info agents knew the whole story of what Aria did or why she did it. Less people that know what the pirate queen does, the more secure her position is. Maybe being Aria's second in command makes Bray more privilege to information, or maybe they've just been through a lot together and she for whatever the reason trusts him more than others.

Whatever the reason, no one will ever really know for sure. Bray isn't much of a talker and Aria's as secretive as the Shadow Broker, whoever _that_ is. I personally think the only difference between the Shadow Broker and Aria is that she's more ballsy than him or her, maybe even they. Aria's so powerful that she doesn't need to hide her identity, hell she doesn't even want to. Not with the way she broadcasts to the people here on Omega. I nodded grimly at her response and sighed, this is going to be a long three weeks. Aria regarded me for a few moments over her champagne glass and sipped the translucent liquid.

"You can't work Raven, but I can keep you busy in other ways." She gave me a sly smirk and took another sip of alcohol, "If you're interested that is."

My body twitched at the mention of possible action, "What do you have in mind boss?"

Aria swirled the glass and light bounced off of the rim and caught the alcohol so it had a tint of blue flash through.

"You're a very good fighter in a physical one-on-one fight and well versed in weapons training, but your biotic skill is lacking. It's not as precise or as controlled as it could be. You're lucky you stayed calm long enough to use your power to slow yourself down for a few seconds to wedge your arm into that hole. But next time you may not be as lucky."

Aria tilted her head back as she downed the last of her alcohol and set her glass down on the tabletop.

"So instead of driving yourself half insane from lack of physical exercise how about you work on your biotics instead?"

My drumming stopped and I sat there deep in thought over Aria's words. The truth is I had wanted to work more on my biotics when I became a runner on my home world, but there weren't any mercs in the area that had the ability to manipulate black matter like me. So I had to figure everything out as I went along. When I wasn't busy perfecting my physical combat lessons from the local Blue Suns, I was working on my shooting accuracy and weapon assembly.

Outside of that I ran messages between Blue Suns groups and after all that I would find time to practice my biotic abilities. I practiced by moving small objects from one place to another, pulled small groups of objects toward me, and learned how to tap into my full power potential long enough to do a nova blast and cast all objects in a fifteen foot radius away from me. Beyond that though I hadn't learned anything else and did my best to strengthen my control over the few things

that I had been able to come up with.

My mind was still on my runner days when something broke my concentration. Aria was making her champagne glass twirl about the room gracefully and had it circling my head. Despite my usual reserve to be serious and professional in front of my boss I gave her a small playful grin. I mean who would have thought Aria possessed a playful side that extended beyond morbid humor? I never thought the great and powerful pirate queen would have a wine glass dance about a room just for the simple pleasure of creating amusement.

"How do you propose I improve my abilities?"

Aria had the glass glide around my head one more time, then have it zoom to the middle of the living room and began to start making figure 8 patterns between the two of us.

"By finding a good teacher and doing as you're instructed."

The glass went from making slow consistent figure 8 patterns, to a silver blur of motion as it's speed increased and became an almost solid looking figure 8. I could barely detect the break in the glass's pattern long enough to know that the glass was indeed moving that fast.

"Exercise number one" said Aria, "Think and react."

Then one of her fingers on her right hand twitched slightly and I threw up my right hand in front of me in a half hazard guess. The glass struck my open palm base first and I could feel the cup buzz from the black matter manipulation pushing it into my skin. Aria regarded me calmly and shook her head in disappointment.

"You blocked the glass, you get a point for knowing to do that much. But I'm afraid that's all you get."

Aria withdrew the glass from my palm and gently lowered it down to the table where it calmly stood still.

"You didn't think to use your biotics to stop the glass from hitting you. Utilize all of your resources Raven. You're not always going to be able to physically use your body to attack or defend. You need to discipline your mind more so that you can use your biotics to protect yourself while you do other things."

Aria stood up from her armchair, "No time like the present to fix mistakes. Follow me Raven."

I glanced from Aria to the glass on the table.

_She's actually serious. She'll teach me how to control my powers._

My gaze followed Aria's back as she went over to the kitchen. She turned around and raised a sleek brow in question. I got up from the couch and met up with her in the kitchen.

"So what are we going to do? Have me juggle kitchenware?"

"No."

Aria turned back to the wall and input a code in her omni-tool. The wall glowed a soft white and then slid back two inches and retreated to the left, disappearing as it followed an unseen track.

"I don't want to clean up my kitchen from your mess or have dirty silverware. I have facilities that will better suite our needs."

With that she ascended the staircase and I followed behind her. Aria T'Loak has yet again stupefied me with her living space. Nothing was as it seemed around here.

_I should just assume she has tanks and mounted turrets in here too. _I thought to myself as I climbed the stair. _It's not like she wouldn't have thought of it, and she clearly has the money to do it. No matter how crazy it might sound to normal people._

The stairs opened up to a larger space. It was very open and airy in here. I half expected it to echo in here with how high the ceiling was, but Aria probably made it sound proof so no one would know about this secret space. _Full of surprises _I thought with an eye roll to myself as Aria opened a large chest sitting off to the left side of the room. _And even deadlier secrets _I added as a dark afterthought. I still remember the turian that Aria ordered dead after he got in a scrape with me and Noleena.

One night when I was working at Afterlife as a bouncer a group of turians had come in and were rowdier than most of our customers that evening. I figured I would have to keep an eye on them during my rounds. For the most part they were just loud and obnoxious, not to mention gross in their comments. They had made statements all night long about how they wanted to get down and dirty with the dancers.

Most of the girls are unfazed by remarks like that, and I've heard them all before too. But I still don't like hearing them and they get under my skin. The ringleader of the group was smitten with Noleena and watched her perform most of the night. I had been doing a visual check-in with one of the Krogan bouncers when I heard Noleena gasp in pain.

I spun my head around to see her being pulled off the platform by the lead turian. He was completely plastered and he had a tight grip on Noleena's wrist. Tight enough to actually bruise her blue skin, I noted as he twisted her arm to bring her closer to him. I narrowed my eyes and quickly strode into the group. I grabbed the offending arm and claws connected to it and I jammed my fingers where his claw joint connected to his hand. He yelped in pain, releasing Noleena's arm.

My voice came out in a dark growl, "That's enough!" and I twisted his arm up behind his back. Male turians physiology makes it hard for the shoulder to be flexible enough to rotate due to their carapace shell that covers and protects the spine. As a result it makes it easy for a person to snap their shoulder, and even in his drunken state the turian knew that.

I now held his attention, "You can look, but don't touch unless you're invited. Got it?"

I may have asked, but it wasn't really a question. Nor was it a request. It was an order. The group of turians began to growl and stand up, I was ruining their fun but the other dancers had quietly slipped off of their platforms and surrounded them. Two girls who worked on either side of Noleena's platform took it upon themselves to get in between me and Noleena's former captor. The turians hesitated; if they got up they might get kicked out. They couldn't fully stand up or get involved without pushing through the girls either way. And if you have to push through a dancer to get somewhere in Afterlife, then you get your ass tossed out by the nearest bouncer. Case closed.

Little had I known that Aria had seen the whole display until later when Hypax relayed the story back to me the following weekend when he got back on shift. But I did know Aria had seen the girls get in between me and those turians while Noleena got back up onto her platform and out of reach of her former captor. Aria had left her throne and descended the stairs to address our ragtag group of turians and asari alike. Her skin glowed faintly from the lights as the strobes lights moved around the room and her face was half hidden in shadow. It made her look dangerous, mysterious, sexy, and very alluring.

"It looks like you boys pissed off my girls. I suggest you all leave before someone gets hurt."

And just like that they were gone, no one wanted to mess with the Pirate Queen. Offending her could mean getting roughed up on the way out of Afterlife, or worse. But that ringleader looked back over his shoulder as he was leaving the club and he glared at me. It was enough to convince me that I should walk Noleena home at the end of our shift, just to calm her down from all the excitement. But I also did it to assure myself that nothing bad would happen as long as I was with her. It was a good thing I did walk her home afterward, our turian friend had sobered up some after our friendly chat five hours later and he apparently didn't like the outcome.

Noleena and I had been walking down the street when I felt the hair on my neck stand on end. The street was well lit, well lit by Omega's standards anyway. Every other light source was on its dim setting and fairly decent temperature wise on that level. Without a word I left Noleena's side and faded behind her back half a step. Then I spun on the ball of my foot and threw out my arm in time to catch the turian bastard's club on my forearm. I grunted as steel made contact with bone and threw a jab to the turian's left eye.

He yelled in surprise and his hands flew to his face to coddle his bruise and I tried to sweep his feet out from under him with my leg. He maintained balance though and a streak of red hot pain split across my left cheek from his club.

In all the commotion Noleena had contacted Bray and hurriedly told him what was going on, then she hung up and rushed back to help me. I managed to bear hug the turian and throw him down onto the ground with my momentum. He went down in a tangled heap of limbs with me and I kneed him in the gut. He paid me in kind by nailing me in the ribs with a free hand. I yanked the club from his outstretched hand and cut off his air with the broadside of the stick.

He began to wheeze as air became a problem and Noleena rushed in with something in hand. She pushed me away from the turian and sprayed him right in the face with pepper spray. The turian screamed in pain and hacked continuously. His eyes and nose were streaming with bodily fluids

and he couldn't breathe very well. Noleena pulled me to my feet and we left the scene as quick as we could.

We got into her apartment building and once we were inside her place Noleena relayed a message to Bray that the turian was outside laying on the street after being pepper sprayed. Bray dispatched a few men to clear him out in case if he was still in the area by the time they showed up. Besides he didn't need to figure out where exactly on the street Noleena lived. By the time the boys showed up to Noleena's place the turian was gone but once Bray told Aria what had happened to us she sent out a hit man to take him out.

Aria it seemed, took employee privacy and safety very seriously. The fact that this guy had followed us home and almost got to Noleena and me, in addition to finding out where Noleena's neighborhood was meant that he was going to have to be dealt with. In a permanent sense. I overheard Bray tell Hypax a week later after the incident that the, "idiotic bird brain" had been found gambling in one of the lower levels by the hitman and was shot point blank in front of 20 people. No one challenged his actions but the hitman announced publically that the fool had messed with one of Aria's dancers.

He warned them all to know that anyone who messes with Aria's performers could expect the same treatment. Word quickly spread about the unwritten policy and I've been wary of how Aria interacts with her surroundings and the people in them ever since.

I cleared the stair and waited behind my boss while she opened that large chest. Inside there were rows of glass like balls. They gleamed in the florescent light, a mixture of white cloudy swirls and clear strands that connected the cloudy swirls together. Aria took out four of the balls and placed them on a platform. The platform stretched the length of the room, it seemed more like a border really. Within the structure of the platform were smooth holes that the balls could be secured in and they were spaced six inches apart. Aria straightened when she was done and crossed her arms across her chest while she leaned against the wall.

"Alright Raven, are you ready to begin?"

I eyed the balls in their slots. Whatever this exercise is it'll help make me stronger. I locked eyes with Aria and nodded, "I'm ready."


End file.
